Monday, March 29, 2010

At last weekend’s Salute to Supernatural, Kurt Fuller talked about playing Zacariah. He thought he was finally going to portray a good guy! By his third episode he soon realized he would be the angel we love to hate. Check out his interview on Zap2It and learn how Jared surprised him and broke the tension during a tough scene.

Jim Beaver talks to TV.com about how he honored his feelings for his wife “by reconstructing them on-screen” in the emotionally challenging, but very rewarding Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid. He also addresses the scary idea of Bobby’s demise! The idea seems all the more concerning when you consider these recent tweets from Jim.

Friday, March 26, 2010

ZOMG, ZOMBIES!!! Oh please oh please, let it be about zombies. (I am going into this completely spoiler free, so you know.) But the opening scene with a guy climbing out of his grave (with the name Clay Thompson) looks promising. So he shows up in a the redneck’s house, and the redneck tries to shoot him, but the gun’s not loaded—redneck fail.

The boys are in South Dakota, wearing suits and trying to get hold of Bobby and wondering how far he could get in that chair. They meet up with a guy who calls himself Digger, who saw Clay Thompson enter Benny the Redneck’s trailer, even though he knew Clay was dead. It seems Benny killed Clay in a hunting accident five years ago (zombie was in pretty good shape then, huh?) and Clay came back for revenge.

A female sheriff, Jody Mills, who Digger calls “Fargo,” approaches. The boys introduce themselves as Dorfman and Neidermeyer (Animal House!). She questions why the FBI believe Digger’s story and wants to check with their supervisor, but Bobby’s done gone missing, right? This won’t go well. Oh, look, there he is. OH NO! She recognizes his VOICE! LOL! Sam and Dean fidget. Turns out she knows Bobby for being drunkand disorderly and mail fraud and warns them to cease and desist.

Sam and Dean (who haven’t actually been the focus of the show here for the first 7 minutes) travel to Bobby’s and start questioning him about where he’s been and what that smell is. (“Is that SOAP? Did you CLEAN?”) Bobby accuses them of acting like his mother then tells them he’s been doing research. Bobby dismisses the case they’re working on, but the boys head to the cemetery in my baby anyway. I sure have missed that car. They notice Clay’s grave looks fresh, so of course they dig it up to find it empty.

The boys break into a house and are attacked, then the guy begs them not to shoot. Turns out he’s Clay Thompson. He looks pale but otherwise not too bad for a dead guy. He confesses to killing Benny because Benny killed him. Clay agrees to go with them as long as they don’t wake his kids. Dean’s ready to kill him---or probably another verb, since he’s already dead---when the sheriff shows up and makes Sam and Dean drop their weapons. Sam and Dean are confused. The zombie confesses to the murder, the man the sheriff believes is too dead to commit murder clearly isn’t, and then when Bobby comes to bail them out of jail, he and Sheriff Jody are having a cozy conversation.

Turns out Bobby knew about the dead rising all over town, and the sheriff has been asking for his help…(hm, just got a niggle of a story idea there)…and the boys are hurt Bobby lied to them. He brings them home, and a woman is getting dinner on the table. The woman is Karen, his dead wife. No wonder Bobby wanted them gone. He doesn’t want them to solve this particular problem.

Dean loves her cooking but Sam’s reluctant to eat. When she leaves the room, Dean and Sam jump on Bobby about the American Girl zombie making cupcakes in the kitchen. Bobby says she’s not a zombie because he’s tested her every way. She hasn’t crawled out of her grave because he’d cremated her. Turns out the sheriff’s little boy has come back too (so sad—no wonder she doesn’t want the problem solved.) At least 15 zombies have risen. Bobby believes Death is responsible. Another horseman. Must be Thursday.

Bobby can’t stand the idea of being without his wife again. He’s breaking my heart. He points out that the dead rise in Revelations, that it’s never said to be a bad thing. He begs them to leave his wife alone.

Dean thinks the zombies are going to turn, so he hangs out in Bobby’s junkyard, only to be confronted with Karen, who lures him into the house while Sam checks out the sheriff’s house and sees her reading to her son. (SOB!) Dean and Karen have a conversation while he eats her pie, and he tells her they won’t let anything happen to Bobby.

Meanwhile, Sam walks into a house that looks like something off of HOARDERS. He encounters an ill woman on a daybed who beckons him closer. She’s drooling and scarred an he says he’s going to regret this, but comes closer anyway, only to have her attack him, drool on him, before he reaches the gun at the back of his pants (sexy!) and blows her head off in a scene I’m sure made Tanya VERY happy. Even my husband was surprised at the graphic nature.

After commercial, the boys are at Bobby’s, who warns them to be quiet because Karen’s sleeping. They ask him about the old lady, who was the first to rise. Bobby said she was always a little nutty, and Dean asks if she was always nutty enough to eat her husband’s stomach. Dean and Sam want to take care of the problem before it’s too late, and Bobby wheels his chair on them and pulls a revolver. If she turns, he’ll take care of it. And he orders them off his property. The boys are stunned and hurt. Dean says they’re his family, but Bobby can’t see it. Dean insists on going back, knowing Bobby mustn’t know or he’s dead. He’s trying to protect the man he loves like a father. Sam will have to go to town alone to protect them.

The sheriff’s son is getting ill, and has a temperature of 111 degrees, and is hungry, reminiscent of those creepy changelings. She sends her husband to him with soup and I’m thinking this won’t end well. Meanwhile, Karen collapses, warm with fever and hungry.

GROSS!!! The sheriff’s little boy ate her husband! ICK ICK ICK!!! But as she stands frozen, her child approaching covered with her husband’s blood, Sam drags her out. Despite freaking out, she responds to Sam’s plea for help, then watches him walk into her house to kill her son. Poor Sam, having to kill a kid.

Karen’s aware of what’s happening to her. I really like her. She confesses that she remembers that Bobby killed her and he tells her he can’t do it again. She also tells him that when she returned, she saw a man at her grave, like a skeleton, who had a message for Bobby.

Argh! We don’t get to hear it yet, because Dean is sneaking into Bobby’s house, in time to hear a gunshot. He rounds the corner to see Bobby sitting by her bed, Karen dead.

Sam has the town gathered at the jail, passing out weapons (isn’t this SD? Don’t they have weapons? Stereotype much, Mary?) and telling them how to kill these zombies that may look like neighbors, friends or wives. One townsperson asks who he is. Sam straightens and says, “Friend of Bobby Singer’s,” very proudly. “Town drunk?” the man asks, surprising Sam. They mobilize, while Dean and Bobby get ready to move. They hear something in the junkyard and Dean goes to investigate, finding Clay Thompson. They’re surrounded, and Bobby fires repeatedly from his chair. One of the zombies knocks Bobby from the chair, but Dean shows up in time. Why are all the zombies at the junkyard? Something to do with the message?

Dean’s running low on ammo as they run back into the house, but Bobby left it in the van they were packing before they attacked. Poor Bobby’s house is a mess of blood, and Bobby and Dean are out of ammo as the zombies break in. Dean drags Bobby into a closet, where the zombies beat on the door. Dean’s wondering why they’re here, too. Finally Sam and the sheriff arrive and start shooting—ugh, Bobby has to move now, because GROSS.

Back in the cemetery, they build a funeral pyre. Looks like the same cemetery where Mary’s grave was. Bobby builds his own pyre for Karen at the junkyard and the boys come to support him. She was the love of his life—how many times does he have to kill her?

Finally Bobby tells them what Karen told him. Death has come for Bobby, because he’s helping the Winchesters, to pay him back. Whether Death wanted Bobby’s life or his spirit, he doesn’t know, but Bobby’s pretty beaten down. However, I’m relieved that he survived, because I was a bit worried about that. The show ended pretty early, didn’t it? And next week, well, Mary’s back, and Dean’s in heaven? Haven’t we kind of done that?

Monday, March 22, 2010

Warning: At the bottom, I list the upcoming episode titles. If you consider them spoilers, stop reading when you see ~~~~~~~~~~~.

In season finale news, it turns out a woman is needed to ground Sam and Dean in their bodies, because they are only sufficiently strong vessels if their souls don't check out (it's not just a body thing), but their love for her is also what keeps them from saying "yes."

Okay, I totally made that up. Pure fantasy, but wouldn't it be cool to be that woman?

In REAL season finale news, it will air May 13. Which anyone who can count already knew, but now it's official. For the fourth year in a row I'll be on retreat and unable to watch, but thank God the facility has wi-fi, and I'll be downloading from iTunes and watching with my fellow obsessives on Friday.

The show finally returns this Thursday and will run nonstop through the remaining 8 episodes, so that's something we can all be thankful for.

In one of my Google alerts, I glimpsed a question about the season finale that was so upsetting I quickly clicked past the alert and didn't explore to find out if that was just a random fan speculating, or actual spoiler news. Unfortunately, it's been burned into my brain...

That's two months away, though. Closer is episode 15, "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid." Support Supernatural has clips on their YouTube Channel. (Note: Support SPN indicates this is episode 5.16; The CW's website labels one of the clips episode 5.14, but math and IMDb tell us it's definitely 5.15.)

SFX awarded Misha Collins "Man of His Word of the Week" for being totally awesome. Scroll down for the paragraph on him, or just go here for the reason for the award.

Jason Manns is doing an East Coast Tour this week! You remember Jason, he's a friend of Jensen's who sometimes plays at Creation's Salute to Supernatural conventions. His song was on Sam's iPod when Dean got into the Impala for the first time after returning from Hell. He'll be in DC on Wednesday, Philadelphia on Friday, and New York City on Saturday, and he'll be selling his new album. He also has a role in the film Rock Slyde, starring Patrick Warburton, soon available at Netflix.

The new issue of Supernatural: Beginning's End is out! This comic mini-series is set while Sam is in college, before the Big Break with his dad. Each issue is like an episode of the show, very classic, and this month's features a very funny storyline. This is my favorite of the three comics series. Pick it up at your local comic store today!

Do you hi-def? The first season of Supernatural will be released on Blu-Ray on June 15. It has a few new special features that the first set didn't have (Devil's Road Map, Paley Festival panel discussion).

Friday, March 19, 2010

There are ONLY spoilers for this one episode (Heart) but I completely ruin the ending for you if, for some reason, you haven't seen it. You've been warned.

Fridays are normally our day to recap new episodes, but as you know, SPN doesn’t come back until next week, so yet again we had no new show (I’ll pause while you join me in pouting or whatever its more dignified equal is). Sometimes instead we recap a “classic” SPN episode from an earlier season. Which works nicely since Supernatural is now in syndication and TNT has been showing it on weekday mornings, check your local listings.

Anyway, I was working at home a couple of weeks ago when I realized that Supernatural was about to come on and, since I had to run my kids’ school, I reflexively DVRed it. I’m not sure why since I actually own the DVD sets and could have watched the exact same episode, “Heart,” without the hassle of commercials. (Does anyone else do this? It’s like when ABC shows the Charlie Brown Christmas special every year and I make the family gather around the television even though we could pop in our copy whenever we want).

But I digress. When my husband got home, he thought it was maybe a new episode in our queue and sat down to watch it with me. (He gives me a lot of hell about my inappropriate appreciation of Sam and Dean—mostly Dean—but he gets wounded if I watch the show without him, witness our argument after I deleted the gory Cupid episode before he’d seen it. But I digress again).

Since my husband became a fan well after I did, he’d never seen “Heart,” and, as it’s not the kind of episode I enjoy watching over and over, I’d only seen it once. Since I, as a card carrying romance writer, really like happy endings, you can imagine why this episode is not my favorite. But beyond the ending, I recall thinking that I wasn’t crazy about the guest-actress's portrayal of Madison and that the chemistry between her and Sam seemed forced. Upon a second watching, I have decided that I was wrong.

We open on a scene in a nightclub that seemed a little more Angel or Charmed than SPN's normal grittier, low rent establishments. A woman deflects her druken boss, seemingly unperturbed as she's had practice with this lush, but then stiffens when she notices a scowling brute in the corner. Later she finds her drunken boss savaged in their office, blood aplenty, and Sam's trip to the morgue confirms an off the record suspicion of wolf attack and that the vic's heart is missing.

Apparently, the heart missing indicates werewolf and Dean turns up some previous similar crimes, so it looks like there's a werewolf in the area. Then the guys meet Madison, under the guise of investigating cops. It turns out the scowling brute was her ex and they wonder if he could be the wolf in question. One of them has to keep the beautiful slender brunette in protective custody while the other has to hit the mean-streets and look for a potentially dangerous guy. This leads to a very cute rock-paper-scissors, two out of three, both of which go to Sam. ("Dean, always with the scissors.")

But while Sam had no trouble insisting that he didn't want to hit the streets, he seems to lack his older brother's ease with women. Sam sorts of lurks uncomfortably around her apartment despite her flashing neon signs that She. Is. Interested. At one point when he's sitting at a table, she dumps a laundry basket of skimpy silky underwear in front of him and starts folding. This struck me as a lot funnier than I remember it being the first time around. (Later, when Madison goes to bed, she deliberately leaves the bedroom door ajar, and my husband rolled his eyes. "Even I would have picked up on a signal that obvious!") Probably the cutest moment between Sam and Madison was when she tells him that she never gets to watch her show (which, from the discussion they have, sounds like a soap opera) and that she won't put up with Sam making fun of it. Later, as the end credits roll, he is sitting in rapt attention discussing the show's villain with her and it is adorable. They also discuss how a seemingly self-confident woman like Madison let herself stay with a loser like her ex and she reveals that, ironically, a mugging a couple of months ago gave her a new outlook on life and changed hers for the better.

Later that night, Dean eventually catches up to Madison's very dead ex...who is missing his heart. Dean is also knocked aside by Madison the snarling werewolf. These boys really do have the worst luck with women!

Madison is surprised to wake up naked in her bed the next morning and even more surprised when cute Sam the policeman suddenly becomes menacing and withdrawn and ties her to a chair. Seeing the place on her arm where Dean nicked her with a silver knife, Sam has no doubt she's a werewolf but questions whether or not she's even aware of killing people at night or if it's just a protective instinct, sensing both of them men she's murdered as some level of threat to her. Sam asks if she was bitten during her mugging and she admits she was, on the neck, and Dean puzzles that the mark there is little more than a love bite. The brothers argue about what to do with her and Sam points out old lore that if you kill the person who turned you, it might free you (that I've actually heard before--in fact, I thin there was a short lived primetime drama revolving around that exact premise--but the whole missing heart thing was new to me; I think the writers just did that to symbolize how they plan to rip out Sam's heart and all of the viewers' at the end of the show).

Dean agrees to return the neighborhood where Madison was mugged and prostitutes have been murdered in the past, identifying that area as a werewolf hunting ground. Sam agrees to stay to keep an eye on Madison. Rather predictably, she breaks out of the chair when she turns and equally predictably, Sam can't bring himself to shoot her. But he does trap her in what I think is a closet after she manages to lacerate his pretty, pretty face. When Madison wakes at dawn and sees the destruction and clawed up walls, she becomes fully convince that Dean and Sam are not psychos after all.

Meanwhile, Dean manages a little destruction of his own, killing the werewolf who turned Madison (the neighbor who had a huge crush on her so, yes, it probably was a love bite after all). So the curse has probably been lifted, yes? (Yeah, you hold onto that dim hope.)

Dean, Sam, and Madison spend an entire full-moon night awake to see if she turns. Dean is noticeably the third wheel here. When dawn rises with no one wolfing out, they are in a celebratory mood. And Dean takes the most hilariously unsubtle exit ever so that Sam and Madison can...celebrate. Which, wow. They did not skimp on that love scene. There was definitely no fading to black or fogged up backseat of the Impala. Hello.

By the time night falls, Sam and Madison have drifted into happy afterglow sleep which doesn't last long. Madison turns wolf and bolts from her apartment, calling Sam scared from a payphone the next morning. They don't fully explain why she didn't wolf out the night before but the possibility is suggested that since she was awake the entire night, she was fighting it on a subconcious level. I don't suppose it would be possible for her to sleep during the day and stay awake nights of the full moon cycle? Or lock her up the way they always did with Oz on Buffy? But, no, because as Dean explains, those plans are not fail-safe. Eventually she would break out (or, with my plan, accidentally nod off, then wake up to find herself chowing down on some guy's heart in the east village). Dean spells out that she probably killed some one the night before and that, the first time their protective measures fail, she's going to end up killing again. The only permanent solution? Put her down.

Sam argues that they'll find a solution--he's deseperate to believe that because season 2 escalates his own self-worry that there's a monster within--but even Madison agrees with Dean. They have to kill her. And she asks Sam to be the one to do it. She puts the gun in his hand. He is poleaxed and just broken over the whole thing. Dean gently takes the gun and pulls his brother aside in conference, offering to do this for him, looking after Sam as he's tried to do ever since he carried the baby out of the burning house when he was a child. It was during their emotional discussion that I commented to my husband (completely without judgement, btw, it's merely an observation) that for a show about two very studly guys, they sure do cry a lot. Of course, I was crying along with them and even my husband was sitting next to me muttering, "Damn."

The last shot, if you'll pardon the double pun, is killer. Close up of Dean's face as he winces at the gunshot in the next room. Arguments have been made that, as we never see the body, Sam didn't go through with it and we might see her again. I don't buy it, but my husband said if he were Dean, he'd have to double-check, just to make sure.

It's definitely not a happy-shiny Supernatural (but then, so few are) but upon second-viewing, it was better than I remembered. I think one of my objections, formerly, were convenient plot holes, like why killing her had to be the only option and how she managed to stay human just long enough for the Big Love Scene and subsequent tragic ending. But after a re-listening of the dialogue, I think the writers at least made an attempt to spackle those holes and whereas I found the so-called chemistry between Sam and Madison awkwardly forced the first time around (oh, look, it's an episode where Sam's in close proximity to a beautiful woman, I don't suppose one thing could lead to another...) this time I found it awkwardly charming. Jared did a great job being sort of, well, gawky and making it believable that a gorgeous giant of a guy with those sculpted shoulders could still be uncomfortable with an attractive woman.

What about you guys--any episodes stand out for you where a second viewing left you with a completely different reaction than your first?

Friday, March 12, 2010

For several years prior to writing full-time, I worked at a magazine that covered the people and places of interest across Tennessee. The vast majority of what we covered was in the non-city parts of the state, the rural areas. So I've been on lots and lots of highways and byways and country roads and visited many a small town. This was before Supernatural debuted, but as I think back now I know I passed many diners and dive motels that would have brought to mind the Winchester brothers. I've even eaten in some of those diners. And once I had to stay in the only motel in the little town where I grew up. It was so a Winchester boys motel. Worse even! I kid you not, the heat was a small space heater. And a WiFi connection? LOL. There wasn't even any Magic Fingers.

Now, I can barely have a slice of pie without thinking about Dean's love of pie. "Gimme pie!"

I can't hear a Kansas song, or a lot of other classic rock, without thinking about Dean and the Impala.

A year or so ago, I rode the train to California. On the way back, I woke up early in the morning before daybreak when the train made a stop. I put on my glasses and looked out the window to see where we were. I'll admit to a bit of excitement to see we were in Lawrence, Kansas. I can't tell you how much I wanted to go exploring. I wonder if there are any Supernatural-related tourist sites in Lawrence or even any mention of the show.

So I'm curious -- has anyone else being going about your normal, everyday life and had a "Supernatural" moment?

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

The Supernatural Sisters welcome guest blogger Victoria Smith with today's post! Thanks, Vicki, for offering your perspective on our beloved brothers. Vicki is the co-author of The Shape of Love, and if you like her brand of humor (and how can you not?) look her up at her blog, where she posts daily. Vicki, take it away!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Yes. I meant “guy” as in singular. I can never decide which Winchester brother I prefer, so I’ve decided to prefer them both. (Get your mind out of the gutter, this is a PG blog) Merging the brothers would be the best of both worlds. Oh, and for the record, I’m talking about Sam and Dean, not Jensen and Jared, because while I’m reasonably certain Jensen and Jared are good guys (I’ve never met them, so being positive would be silly) :), they’re not Sam and Dean in real life. If you think that, then…umm…I don’t know what to tell you.

Anyway. Sam and Dean balance each other so well. What Sam lacks, Dean has and vice versa. Dean’s “devil may care” attitude is in direct contrast with Sam’s research and moral stance. If it weren’t for Sam, Dean would likely pitch himself headlong into who-knows-what and probably be dead by now. On the other hand, if it weren’t for Dean, Sam might over-think things and end up taking too long researching, or thinking, and the case might never get solved, or you know, he’d end up getting picked up by cops. (Unless, of course, Dean is dead. Then we have super-concentrated Sam and as attractive as that is, I’m not so sure it’s a good idea.) So, yeah, balance and the perfect guy. Dean seems to be the messier of the two, and Sam is tidy. Logically, merging them would give you someone who knows how to put the toilet seat down, does the shopping, and occasionally leaves a small mess. I think I could live with that.

Both have a sense of humor, and that would merge nicely, except I can’t help but wonder if eventually that might drive one crazy. They’re smart in different ways, though you can’t convince me that Dean is just a pretty face with a lot of common sense, nor do I believe that Sam lacks that common sense, but together we’d have a phenomenal combination of book smarts and logic.

We won’t go into the physical aspects, because, let’s face it, each Winchester is perfection in his own way. I will, however, push the PG rating of this blog to mention the differences in the brothers in that way. Sam is all rough and against the wall, while Dean appears more playful (not that we’ve got a lot to go on there. Hint, hint, Supernatural People). Merging the two in that way would probably leave you speechless for weeks, but now that I’ve firmly planted that idea into your heads…that’s all I have to say about that.

I guess what it boils down to is that I don’t want to have to choose. I am never firmly in one brother’s preference. It all depends on the week and what they’re up against. And that makes me love Supernatural even more.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Well, after both my computer and minivan died this weekend, I am running behind (and entirely grateful that my husband was able to get both working again without resorting to making deals with Crossroads demons!) Anyway, here some recent SPN newsbits, no spoilers except for some casting news (minor):

If you're interested not only in the show Supernatural but books about it, there's a contest going on now you might be interested in.

I’m sure you’ve noticed that there are two names missing. Jared and Jensen don’t have accounts on Twitter (or any other kind of social network), but fortunately for us their bodyguard does. Clif Kosterman on @bodyguard4JandJ began tweeting in January. He’s the real deal and here are the boys to tell you so.

And, fortunately for us, Clif kindly posted some sweet wedding pics from Jared’s big day with permission from the guys.

Aren't they all too cute? Looks like such a happy day. Oh, to have been there! LOL.

I know you're going to run off and start following some new people on Twitter, so please consider following us too.